Paul Ryan: No One Knows If Our Tax Plan Will Pay For Itself

Asked if the tax bill will pay for itself, Ryan said "nobody knows" because "that's in the future".

Wednesday morning on NBC's Today, House Speaker Paul Ryan admitted that "nobody knows" if the Republican tax cuts will pay for themselves - a shift from GOP insistence leading up to the vote that economic growth would climb high enough to cover the predicted $1.46 trillion added to the deficit.

“Are you saying that the growth you’re going to get from this tax cut will equal the amount it would cost on the deficit side so that it’s a wash, so that you’re not adding to the deficit at all?” she asked.

“Nobody knows the answer to that question because that’s in the future,” he responded. “But what we do know is that this will increase economic growth … You have to get faster economic growth so that people can get ahead in America; that’s what we’re doing.”

The $1.46 trillion addition to the deficit could end up higher if the phasing out of lower- and middle-class tax cuts are made permanent - as Ryan believes will happen - according to a report by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Budget.

If lower tax rates for individuals and families are extended and not allowed to expire in 2025, the bill would add $2 trillion to $2.2 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, the report said.